BRIAN BATTLER

Brian Battler was an original character made for KOF 94. He appeared alongside Heavy D! and Lucky Glauber (who themselves were made especially for KOF 94) to make the American Sports Team. Originally, however, the team was going to be made up of Heavy D!, Bobby Nelson (from Aggressors Of Dark Kombat) and Johnny Maximum (from the World Heroes series). However, because SNK decided they wanted to introduce lots of new characters that fans of SNK's earlier fighting games hadn't seen before, Bobby Nelson was exchanged for Lucky Glauber (who retained the basketball-based attacks of Bobby) and Johnny Maximum was exchanged for Brian (who retained the football player appearance and attacks of Johnny). Early concept art of Brian showed him wearing a chest-plate and a football helmet, but because SNK decided that he still resembled Johnny Maximum too much, they ditched the extra attire.

He, along with Heavy D! and Lucky Glauber, have only appeared as playable characters in 3 official KOF games - KOF 94, KOF 94 Rebout and KOF 98. Apparently, they were going to enter KOF 95, but Iori Yagami and fellow team members - Eiji Kisaragi and Billy Kane, stole the American Sports Team's invitations. They have, however, appeared numerous times in the backgrounds of stages in certain KOF installments. The character is said to be loosely based off Al Bundy from tv's Married With Children, as Al was a former high school football star at Polk High School in the series.